Baked Lemon Cheesecake

This week has been rough. I spent 20 hours doing my statistics homework, and that's on top of a full-time job, a math class, a business analysis class, and a hungry husband to feed. I haven't had much time for sleeping, let alone for cooking. But on Saturday we were having friends over and I decided to make a nice dessert. Cooking was refreshing, liberating, and healing. It helped me to regroup for the upcoming week and relax mentally

This Baked Lemon Cheesecake is a light version of the popular dessert. The cheesy filling is made with low fat ricotta cheese and Greek yogurt. There is just about 300 calories per serving, compared to 700-1000 calorie Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes :) Make your own cheesecake and have a second helping!

Serves 8
Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp butter, plus more for greasing
• 1 1/2 cups gingersnaps, crushed 
• 1 tbsp cold water
• 3 organic lemons
• 1 1/4 cups low-fat ricotta cheese
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sugar
• raspberries and blueberries to decorate

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 8-inch round cake pan with removable bottom. Line pan with parchment paper. (You need to line just the sides of the pan).

2. Process gingersnaps in food processor creating fine crumbs. Melt butter and stir it in gingersnaps mixture. Add 1 tbsp cold water. Mix well. Press gingersnap dough into bottom of cake pan. Chill until firm. (I formed thin cookie walls to create a tart look, but you don't have to do that. You can just press the cookie mixture into the bottom of the pan. Make sure you grease the walls of the pan well to prevent the cheese mixture from sticking).

3. Grate lemon zest using small zest grater. Squeeze lemon juice from lemons. Add ricotta cheese, yogurt, eggs, cornstarch, and sugar. Beat well with electric mixer until smooth. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 45 minutes.

4. Cool cheesecake. Using knife, carefully cut around pan sides to release cheesecake. Place cake, still on pan botton, on platter. Decorate with berries. Enjoy!

Adapted from "The Easy Way Vegetarian," 2012, p. 218.